The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
It’s Sharad Poonam (Full Moon). Look up right now and you’ll see nothing but an overcast sky but on Friday morning when we woke up my girls and I marvelled for a few minutes at the moon. It was like a huge golf ball in the sky shining so brightly in the crisp blue sky before […]
A couple of weeks ago I was invited on a foodie trip to Suffolk by the team at Food Safari. The trip encompassed a visit to Hillfarm Oils based in Halesworth. First and foremost a British family business We were warmly greeted by Sam and Clare Fairs, the husband and wife team behind the business. Sam […]
I have a little secret to tell. I’ve been feeding my girls pink mash and green mash since they were little. For years they thought fairy dust made it different colours. In fact for birthdays we did have a touch of the edible glitter on top. Little did they know I mashed in beetroot and spinach […]
Is there something you add to your shopping basket every week? For me it’s avocados. I chose a few ripe ones and a few to leave on the windowsill to ripen over the course of the coming week. I know they are ready when the little stalk at the base pops off easily. They are […]
I have a confession to make. The real reason I grow courgettes at the allotment is because of the flowers. There is something magical about these and my excitement and utter joy at seeing them for the first time each year never abates. They peek through the foliage and just take make me swell with […]
We were very organised on the allotment this year. We planned over Christmas holidays because we did not want to be pipped to the post with seeds running out or not getting things in time. We were keen to grow mange tout – or ‘mange toots’ as my littlest calls them. Our local veg stall […]
We are having unsettled weather in the UK at the moment and that means lots of allotment time. Either to sort out the mess after heavy rain or to bask in the sunshine while it lasts. This year, we’ve extended our allotment ever so slightly but chopping down all the nettle and bramble growth to the […]
We’ve gone a bit bonkers with the bean planting on the allotment this year. I have some runner beans of the firestorm variety which yield the vibrant red edible flowers which I am looking forward to almost more than the beans. I have various varieties of dwarf beans because I’ve discovered they grow quite happily in […]
Have you noticed that alongside the daffodils that seem to be everywhere, there are also bursts of yellow from dandelions? They too are so pretty and brighten up banks of green in our lovely city of London – or the suburbs in my case. Like many, I’ve disregarded these these plants. Sunny and cheerful as […]
This is a really simple side dish I learned in Morocco at the L’Atelier Madada Cookery School in Essaouria. It’s wonderful with some leftover plan rice or couscous or just some crusty bread. You’ll need 2 medium courgettes 1 clove of garlic finely chopped 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp lemon juice. The skin of […]
This coconut masala is adapted from the lovely book Mr Todiwala’s Bombay. Please also take a look at the okra. The tomatoes soak up the coconut really well and I’ve added a little extra of the coriander seeds and cumin seeds, garlic and a tarka with curry leaves to give this dish more flavour. A tarka is […]
I am a huge fan of okra. This wasn’t always the case because they can become a huge sticky mess and taste awful! The trick is to make sure they are washed and dried carefully with a teatowel so there is no trace of water when you cut them. The water meets the inside and […]